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Principality of Catalonia
The Principality of Catalonia (in Catalan, Principat de Catalunya, in Spanish, Principado de Cataluña) is an independent, single-county Principality, since it declared independence from the Crown of Aragon October 13th, 1456. It shares borders with the Kingdom of France to the north, with the Kingdom of Aragon to the west and with the Kingdom of Valencia to the south, and limits to the east with the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital city is Barcelona. It is governed by three institutions: the Prince of Catalonia, currently vacant, the Generalitat de Catalunya and the city councils. The Generalitat de Catalunya, in turn, is made up of three elected powers: the Catalan Assembly, the Catalan Government and the Court of Appeal. Its maximum law is the Constitution. The Principality of Catalonia has two languages: Catalan is official in the cities of Vic and Puigcerdà, and Spanish is official in the rest, although both languages are official at the Principality level. Cities *Barcelona, capital, founded July 26th, 1455 *Gerona (in Catalan, Girona), founded April 25th, 1455 *Tarragona, founded April 25th, 1455 *Tortosa, founded April 25th, 1455 *Urgel (in Catalan, Urgell) *Lérida (in Catalan, Lleida) *Vic, founded October 1st, 1455 *Puigcerdà (in Spanish, Puigcerdá), founded March 28th, 1456 History The Principality of Catalonia, formerly known as Barcelona County, was established with the simultaneous foundation of the cities of Tortosa, Tarragona and Girona on April 25th, 1455, and the incorporation of Urgell and Lleida which were initially part of the Kingdom of Aragon. It formed part of the Crown of Aragon, as a county, together with the Kingdom of Aragon and the Kingdom of Valencia. Different disputes between the three counties, together with the failures of the Trastamara and Urgell dinasties, led to the declaration of independence from the Crown of Aragon October 13th, 1456, signed by President Vlcred. Threatened by the Captain of the Kingdom of Valencia, war broke up immediatelly in the southern border. On October 15th, 1456, the Valencian army was defeated out of the walls of Castellón (Kingdom of Valencia), and on October 16th, 1456, the Catalan Army, known as Almogàvers, commanded by Rocabertí, occupied the iron mine north of Castellón, within the borders of the Kingdom of Valencia, and moved north to Tortosa. The mine changed hands twice, until the two armies met again in November 11th, 1456, resulting in another victory for the Catalan Army, which again retreated to Tortosa. Five days later, the results of the elections in the Principality of Catalonia were a clear back up of the citizens with their government, as La Menestralia was reelected with 57.3% of votes, and Visigot de Plegamans was elected President. Even though the Principality of Catalonia offered a peace treaty and negotiations were on their way that night between the two Dukes, the Duke of the Kingdom of Valencia had already sent two armies against Tortosa. Trying to make a surprise attack, the Captain of Valencia assured they were just capturing the mine again, but the Catalan Armies were in alert and the clash was the largest battle ever known in the Iberian Kingdoms, on November 18th, 1456, out of the walls of Tortosa. Two Valencian armies were defeated, suffering more than 15 deaths or injured out of 70, against 2 deaths out of 40 in the Catalan Army. The Kingdom of Valencia stationed then one army out the walls of Castellon and a second one in the mine north of Castellon. Peace agreements were prepared during ten days, but a continuous lack of reply by Valencia, together with the addition of new soldiers to the Valencian armies, decided the Principality to officially break peace talks on November 29th and launch a strike on November 30th, 1456. Although standing a privileged position and high prestige, the Valencian Army was defeated again and definitively dislocated, with 15 deaths and 8 severely injured, against 5 injured in the Catalan Army, which gained control of the mine. On December 3rd, 1456, the Crown of Aragon represented by the Gran Canciller Anzo de Berastegui and the Senescal Lyzander D’Anghier, the Kingdom of Valencia represented by the Duke Rose de Anthares Pern y Valmont and Counciler Doña Linwen de Valencia, and the Principality of Catalonia represented by President de la Generalitat Visigot de Plegamans and Counciler Gregoryt de Malatesta i Pladevall, signed the Treaty of Fredes in the border town of Fredes, in which it was recognized the independence of the Principality and the war with Valencia was declared to be finished. International Recognition The following counties and kingdoms have recognised the Principality of Catalonia as an independent state: *Crown of Aragon, December 3rd, 1456 *Repubblica Fiorentina, February 23th, 1457 *Ducatto di Modena, February 28th, 1457 *Country of Sussex, March 17th, 1457 *Repubblica di Genova, March 23th, 1457 *Franche-Comté, March 31st, 1457 *Ducatto di Milano, April 6th, 1457 *Poitou, April 7th, 1457 *Provincia degli Abruzzi, March 11th, 1457 *Duché d'Orléans, June 24th, 1457 *Kingdom of France, March 31th, 1462 *Kingdom of England, February 22th, 1463